The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ic]What exactly HAPPENED, heh? I'll tell you, boy. I'll tell you what happened.

We were swaying along all fine and dandy, progressing as we should have done. Then some limey bastard went and started off the Industrial Revolution. We were too stupid to see what was happening, too foolish to understand why the Earth was heating up, and then too slow and lazy to stop it, too consumed with our own greed. And now we have no poles, most of the earth's flooded, and we're in quite a substantial bit of trouble.

Still, it's no immense problem. Humanity is surviving, that's what we've always done. There're still a lot of us here, besides which, there's space to expand. A whole galaxy out there, a whole universe! True, it might not be quite as empty as we thought, but what's conquest without anyone to conquer?

We've got cybernetics. We've got hokey robots. We've got colonies on the moon, and more being set up on Mars. We've got everything we need to survive. True, there might not be much left of mother Earth... but who cares about her, eh? We've got the universe! [/ic]

[ooc]This campaign setting is not exactly post-apocalyptic, but it's something vaguely similar. Global warming has taken its toll, large portions of the earth have been flooded, and humanity is expanding into the stars. It may have taken them a while to develop the kind of technology that allows you to live for sustained amounts of time on Mars or the Moon, but the 'Warming' was a bit of a kick up the backside for the governments of the world, and there are now eight successful Moon Colonies and two on Mars. Cybernetics is popular but expensive, robotics is attempting as much as ever to mimic humans (and succeeding only a little more than in our own time) and... yes, there are aliens. Only on Mars, mind you - so far - and those are pretty alien aliens.

Roll on 2151![/ooc]

Global Powers

Although much of the world's coastlines has changed, there are still large portions of it left, and these are controlled merrily by several superpowers:

The United States of America

Still a superpower, much to the consternation of the E.U. and Russia. As the Oil crisis came to an immense head, the USA developed an extremely aggressive policy towards other nations. Political and military threats against Canada and other nearby nations, as well as CIA interference in South America, have extended its strong political influence throughout the Americas. The USA was the first power to build colonies on the moon, and, ironically, one of the last to switch to being truly 'green'.

Russian Republic

Just a few decades after the collapse of the USSR, a selection of increasingly 'stubborn' presidents of Russia extended its influence back, as strong as ever, into ex-Soviet satellite states. Some of these states allowed this regrowth of influence, whilst others flocked to join the EU in a hope that this would protect them. In some cases, it did. Although on several occasions over the past 150 years another Cold War has threatened to break out, it happily never has.

The European Union

The European Union became more and more unified after the Lisbon Treaty was finally passed in 2014 (much to Ireland's disdain), and a succession of more and more eurocentric bills finally united all of Western and most of Eastern Europe into a 'superstate' whose internal boundaries were little more than linguistic and, occasionally, cultural. The EU resisted both American and Russian influence, mainly through a mix of appeasement and pre-emptive movements. The EU is no longer truly a 'European' Union, because it now includes Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and a small section of other non-European territories that sided with them over the USA or Russia.

Peoples' Republic of China

The Peoples' Republic of China may have suffered from global warming, but a 'green' policy, some extremely cunning negotiation with major powers, and clever economists have turned China into a great economic superpower, the 'USA of the East' (as American critics like to call it. Europeans tend to refer to it as 'China'). It has colonies on Mars and the Moon and, not content with that, now has a space program which may begin exploring other planets' moons in the near future.

New Islamic Caliphate

The union of several Islamic states (although by no means all of them) created a powerbase of semi-developed and developed states stretching from Somalia (rapidly occupied) to Indonesia. This is the only power without (as yet) space colonies. The Caliphate is a very loose affiliation of states beneath the Caliph. Despite it being a Muslim state, at least 35% of the population are non-Muslim - a state often decried by more hardline politicians in the Caliphate.

Developing/Newly Developed World

Whilst not really in any sense of the word a 'superpower' (because they're a completely disunited set of powers), the Developing and Newly Developed world (including India, Pakistan, and many other Asian and African nations) is extremely important. They provide many important goods to richer nations, and generally remain neutral.

Interesting stuff... just a little thing though to throw your way though. Even with a 100m sea level rise, much of the earths landmass would remain above water. Note that most predictions are putting the sea level rise if all ice melted at around 70 meters. The north pole melting would do very little to sea levels (the ice is already supported by the sea and thus its weight is accounted for). The big ones are Greenland, and especially Antarctica (which accounts for about 90% of the rise should it happen). Certainly though you would get flooded coasts and lowlands, just not the water world that so many doomsayers claim.

Technology Level

 Cybernetics

Cybernetics have developed to a level where one can buy a prosthetic arm that can provide a vague sense of feeling and pressure as well as perform all the movements a normal arm can. Implants are also available, some of which give some advantage over the regular human. At present, the implants available include ones that concentrate human urine and sweat intensely (allowing you to conserve water, although at discomfort, pain, and an oft-lingering smell), ones that pass amounts of chemicals into the bloodstream, and those that produce blood coagulants to stop bleeding. Night-vision and heat-vision eyes (amongst others) are available, but often take up a lot of space - it is very rare and expensive that such eyes (at least, such eyes that can be switched back to normal vision at will) can be bought in sizes that are just implanted into the skull and appear to be normal eyes.

 Robotics

Many tasks originally undertaken by skilled human labourers are now completely automated on Earth, with only robot maintenance providing a large amount of jobs. On the moon colonies, such work is much more often undergone by skilled workers (mostly because the moon colonies are, actually, quite poverty-stricken and any jobs that can be created are).

Humanoid robots are extremely rare, and mainly just curiosities. Whilst some do exist, they are extremely, extremely expensive to build and maintain, especially if they are built to appear as humans. They are also frequently clumsy, slow, and obviously not real humans. Rumours of robots that are indistinguishable from humans are so far apparently unsubstantiated, yet persistent. Such robots are illegal and not permitted to exist in the EU, USA, or several other major nations, and if someone was found to be building them, he would face extremely harsh consequences.

 Other technology

Time travel is still, as far as we know, impossible. Guns are still using solid projectiles, although gauss guns are now in regular use (making conflict often a lot more fatal). All sorts of unpleasant portable nuclear devices have been designed as military tools, however, they are generally not used, but are rather a threat. In day-to-day terms, nuclear and other forms of green energy are extremely common. Hovercraft and other eclectic methods of transport still have not triumphed over the regular wheeled vehicle, although they are certainly more common, especially in swamped areas. Homes on Earth are generally computerised. On the Moon, whole colonies are controlled by endlessly-backed-up supercomputers, whilst homeowners generally have to deal with a smaller, less exciting interface of it. There is a general 1:1 ratio for computers and people on Earth, and the Internet has become an even more thrilling place - with certain virtual reality spin-offs providing thrills for everyone from children on games to certain seedy, lonely elements of society (see LaydeeBBs.com).

Quote from: NomadicInteresting stuff... just a little thing though to throw your way though. Even with a 100m sea level rise, much of the earths landmass would remain above water. Note that most predictions are putting the sea level rise if all ice melted at around 70 meters. The north pole melting would do very little to sea levels (the ice is already supported by the sea and thus its weight is accounted for). The big ones are Greenland, and especially Antarctica (which accounts for about 90% of the rise should it happen). Certainly though you would get flooded coasts and lowlands, just not the water world that so many doomsayers claim.

Well, yes. I certainly wasn't imagining the entire world to have been drowned, although I admit I played it up maybe a little bit. I was thinking coasts and lowlands, but didn't really do much research to do with sea levels first. I know a large portion of Wales would be underwater (oh Land of My Fathers, what a pity - but at least Rhyl will be gone) but not about the equivalents elsewhere.

Thanks for the comment :)

Also all the melted ice has gone into Earth's hydrology budget, so it's probably noticeably wetter. The Sahara is likely to be prairie, the Thames suitable for crocodiles and hippos. Bonneville Salt Flats are likely part of the Great Salt Lake again. Check into Earth climate models for about 4500 BC, it should be fairly close to what you're looking at.

Interesting stuff, I was just wondering how "hard" of a tech level you seen your setting having?

Quote from: GrumpyOldFartAlso all the melted ice has gone into Earth's hydrology budget, so it's probably noticeably wetter. The Sahara is likely to be prairie, the Thames suitable for crocodiles and hippos. Bonneville Salt Flats are likely part of the Great Salt Lake again. Check into Earth climate models for about 4500 BC, it should be fairly close to what you're looking at.

I'll take a look, thanks :)

QuoteInteresting stuff, I was just wondering how "hard" of a tech level you seen your setting having?

I don't really understand what you mean by 'hard', but if you mean what kind of tech level... reasonably advanced? Let's say, in terms of D20 future, late 6 to early 7. Basically, computers have become extremely, extremely common, inside peoples' bodies, walking around, and in every type of industry, commercial or leisure activity - even more so than today - and the process of automisation has continued along at a steady pace.

Quote from: WensleydaleI don't really understand what you mean by 'hard'

By "hard" I mean how realistic do you see the tech level? As in hard science fiction.

Quote from: LlumBy "hard" I mean how realistic do you see the tech level? As in hard science fiction.

Ahh!

Mostly true-to-life with a large blob of creative licence.

I'm still skeptical about our impact on the 'climate change' that's happening, but that's beside the point. Just putting that forth. Who controls the new continent of mild climates that Antarctica has become?

Is the USA still confined by its current borders, or did they actually take Canada and South America? Actually, I'd love to see a list of countries that these superblocs are comprised of.

Quote from: Stargate525I'm still skeptical about our impact on the 'climate change' that's happening, but that's beside the point. Just putting that forth. Who controls the new continent of mild climates that Antarctica has become?

Is the USA still confined by its current borders, or did they actually take Canada and South America? Actually, I'd love to see a list of countries that these superblocs are comprised of.

Sure.

It's not necessarily true that we're the ones that caused the climate change. A lot of people do, but, as now, it's not definitively proven.

As for antarctica, I haven't really thought that one through yet. I imagine everyone will have little claims on it.

And for the USA? Canada and most of South America are now puppet states, not quite part of the USA but definitely mostly controlled by it. I'll get on those lists...

Interesting. More on these hovercrafts...how do they work? Some sort of magnetism? Can they only drive on courses drawn out by underground magnetic wires, or can they free roam? Any interesting species or pharmesuticals discovered yet?

Quote from: DrizztrocksInteresting. More on these hovercrafts...how do they work? Some sort of magnetism? Can they only drive on courses drawn out by underground magnetic wires, or can they free roam? Any interesting species or pharmesuticals discovered yet?

Hovercraft are very similar to today's hovercraft, and so can free-roam on a cushion of air. There are magnet-based trains, however, which travel extremely rapidly.

As for new species: not on Earth. However, Mars is inhabited... more on that later.

As for pharmaceuticals, a cure for HIV-AIDS has now been found, as well as cures for the majority of cancers (although some are still effectively death sentences). There are also various new drugs on which members of society can blow their minds (sometimes literally).

To cure AIDs did you inject yourself with cash? Were you HIV positive the syringe was clean before you did it?

    Seriously, though, I can't wait to see more on these aliens. I am hoping they are very strange and interesting, as I HATE little green men, as they both are uncreative and don't make sense. An ecosystem of aliens, or just one species?